Song for a Future Generation

"Song for a Future Generation"
U.S. vinyl single
Single by The B-52's
from the album Whammy!
B-side	"Planet Claire"
Released	1983
Format	7", 12"
Recorded	1983
Genre	New wave
Length	4:00
Label	Warner Bros. / Island Records
Writer(s)	The B-52's
Producer(s)	Steven Stanley
The B-52's singles chronology
"Whammy Kiss" (1983) "Song for a Future Generation" (1983) "Summer of Love" (1986)

"Song for a Future Generation" is the third single taken from The B-52's 1983 album Whammy!. It peaked at #63 on the UK Singles Chart and also reached number nine on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart, along with the album tracks "Whammy Kiss" and "Legal Tender." It is the first of two songs by the B-52's to feature all five band members singing lead vocals,^[1] the second being "Theme for a Nude Beach" from the album Bouncing off the Satellites. The song's lyrical content made implicit references to "familiar media images of glamorous people, [like] 'The Empress of Fashion' and 'The Captain of the Enterprise'" and describes "a goofy series of mythic couples meeting to populate the future."^[2]

A music video was filmed to accompany "Song for a Future Generation" for promotion on television. It features the band members performing the song on podiums, swings and in a Brady Bunch style split screen. The video also features some of the most extravagant, elaborate bouffant wigs that the female members of the band notoriously wore throughout their early career, including one made of golden tinsel, one with a chicken wire frame (nicknamed "the bird cage") and one bouffant atop which sat a giant bow made from wig-hair.

In a 1983 music concert at the Forest Hills Tennis Stadium, the band sang live vocals with a prerecorded backing track.^[3] The B-52's sang "Song for a Future Generation" live over a backing track on the Whammy! tour in 1983.

Rolling Stone described the song as "mock-utopian".^[4] Stephen Holden from The New York Times described the song as "an amusing evocation of the current [sic] baby boom" and fun but serious.^[5]

Electronica band Chicks on Speed remade the song for the 2001 album, The Re-Releases of the Un-Releases.^[6]

Track listing

UK vinyl 12" single

Side A

1. "Song for a Future Generation"
2. "Song for a Future Generation" (Instrumental)

Side B

1. "Planet Claire"

UK 2 x vinyl 7" single

1. "Song for a Future Generation"
2. "Song for a Future Future Generation" (Instrumental)
3. "Planet Claire"
4. "There's a Moon in the Sky (Called the Moon)"

References

1. LLC, SPIN Media (1990-03-01). SPIN. SPIN Media LLC.
2. Holden, Stephen (1983-08-07). "ROCK-AND-ROLL: SET BY B-52'S AT THE FOREST HILLS STADIUM". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-04-11.
3. Holden, Stephen (1983-08-07). "ROCK-AND-ROLL: SET BY B-52'S AT THE FOREST HILLS STADIUM". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-04-11.
4. Bogdanov, Vladimir; Woodstra, Chris; Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (2002-01-01). All Music Guide to Rock: The Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 9780879306533.
5. http://www.nytimes.com/1983/08/07/arts/rock-and-roll-set-by-b-52-s-at-the-forest-hills-stadium.html
6. Inc, Nielsen Business Media (2000-12-09). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc.